2004-2-14
(THEME)
VOICE ONE:
I'm Shirley Griffith.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Ray Freeman with the Special English program, People In
America. Every week we tell the story of someone important in the
history of the United States. Today we tell about Harriet Tubman, an
African American woman who fought slavery and oppression.
(THEME)
VOICE ONE:
Historians say Harriet Tubman was born in the year
Eighteen-Twenty. Nobody really knows. In the United States in the
Nineteenth Century the birth of slaves was not recorded.
We do know that Harriet Tubman was one of the bravest women ever
born in the United States. She helped hundreds of people escape from
slavery on the Underground Railroad. This was a system that helped
slaves escape from the South to states where slavery was banned.
Because of her work on the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman
was called Moses. In the Bible, Moses was the leader of the Jewish
people enslaved in Egypt. He brought his people out of slavery to
the promised land. Harriet Tubman died in Nineteen-Thirteen. All her
life, she always tried to improve life for African Americans.
((MUSIC BRIDGE))
VOICE TWO:
From a very early age, Harriet knew how slaves suffered. Her
parents were slaves. They belonged to Edward Brodas, a farmer in the
middle Atlantic state of Maryland. Harriet's parents tried to
protect her and their ten other children as much as they could.
There was little they could do, however. Slaves were treated like
animals. They could be sold at any time. Families often were
separated. Slave children were not permitted to act like children.
By the time Harriet was three years old, Mister Brodas ordered her
to carry notes from him to other farmers. Some of these farmers
lived as far as fifteen kilometers away. Harriet was punished if she
stopped to rest or play.
VOICE ONE:
When Harriet was six years old, the Brodas family sent her to
work for another family who lived near their farm. While there,
Harriet was infected with the disease measles. Even though she was
sick, she was forced to place and remove animal traps in an icy
river. She was sent home when she became dangerously ill. Harriet's
mother took very good care of her. The child survived. Then she was
sent to work in the Brodas's house. Her owners never gave her enough
to eat. One day she was working in the kitchen. She was looking at a
piece of sugar in a silver container when Missus Brodas saw her.
Harriet ran away in fear. She was caught and beaten very severely.
Her owners decided that Harriet never would make a good worker in
the house. She was sent to the fields.
VOICE TWO:
Harriet's parents were sad. They
worked in the fields and they knew how difficult it was to survive
the hard work. But working outside made Harriet's body strong. And
she began to learn things from the other slaves. These things one
day would help her lead her people to freedom. Harriet heard about
Nat Turner. He had led an unsuccessful rebellion of slaves. She
heard about other slaves who had run away from their cruel owners.
She was told that they had traveled by the Underground Railroad.
They did not escape by using a special train. Instead of a real
train, the Underground Railroad was a series of hiding places,
usually in houses of people who opposed slavery. These were secret
places that African Americans could stop at as they escaped from the
South to the North. As Harriet heard stories of rebellion, she
became more of a rebel.
((MUSIC BRIDGE))
VOICE ONE:
One day when Harriet was fifteen she was at a local store. A
slave owner entered and threatened a young boy who was his slave. At
first, the slave refused to move. Then he ran for the door. Harriet
moved in front of the young man. The slave owner reached for a heavy
weight. He threw it at his slave. He missed. Instead, the heavy
metal object hit Harriet in the head. Harriet almost died. Months
passed before she could get out of bed. For the rest of her life,
she carried the mark of a deep wound on her head. And she suffered
from blackouts. She would suddenly lose consciousness as though she
had fallen asleep.
VOICE TWO:
Mister Brodas felt he would never get any good work out of
Harriet. So he decided to sell her. Harriet thought of a way to
prevent this. Each time she was shown to someone who might buy her,
she acted as if she were falling asleep. After a while, Mister
Brodas gave up hope of selling Harriet. He sent her back to the
fields. She dreamed of freedom while picking vegetables and digging
in the fields. In Eighteen Forty-Four, at about age twenty-four, she
married a free black man named John Tubman. By now, Harriet was sure
she wanted to try to escape. It would be very dangerous. Slaves who
were caught often were killed or almost beaten to death. Harriet
knew she must wait for just the right time.
VOICE ONE:
Suddenly, in Eighteen-Forty-Nine, the time came. Mister Brodas
died. His slaves probably would be sold to cotton farmers further
South. The situation there would be even worse. John Tubman tried to
make Harriet forget about running away. He was free. Why should he
make a dangerous trip with a woman breaking the law? Harriet decided
that her marriage to John must end. Harriet heard that she was to be
sold immediately. She knew she needed to tell her family that she
was leaving. She began to sing, softly at first, then louder. She
sang the words, "I'm sorry to leave you...I'm going to the promised
land." Her family understood.
((MUSIC BRIDGE))
VOICE TWO:
Harriet ran to the home of a white
woman who had promised to help. This woman belonged to the Quakers,
a religious group which hated slavery. The Quaker woman told her how
to reach another home where she could hide. Harriet went from house
to house that way on the Underground Railroad. Each place was a
little closer to the eastern state of Pennsylvania. Slavery was
banned there. Once she was hidden under hay that had been cut from
the fields. Another time, she wore men's clothing. Finally, she
crossed the border into Pennsylvania. Later, she told a friend, "I
felt like I was in heaven."
VOICE ONE:
Now that Harriet was free, she did not forget the hundreds of
other slaves back in Maryland. During the next ten years, she led a
much expanded Underground Railroad. She freed her parents, her
sister, brothers and other family members. She found a home for her
parents in Auburn, New York. Harriet traveled back and forth
eighteen times, helping about three-hundred slaves escape into free
territory. She became an expert at hiding from slave hunters. At one
time, anyone finding Harriet was promised forty-thousand dollars for
catching her -- dead or alive. The people she helped called her
Moses. She had rescued them from slavery just as the biblical Moses
rescued the Jews. Harriet found another way to fight slavery after
the Civil War began in Eighteen-Sixty-One. Seven southern states
decided to separate from the United States, mainly over the issue of
slavery. The northern states refused to let the United States of
America break apart. After fighting began, Harriet Tubman went into
enemy territory to spy for the North. She also served as a nurse.
After four years of bloody fighting, the North won the war.
President Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves in Eighteen-Sixty-Three.
There was no longer any need for Harriet to be Moses.
((MUSIC BRIDGE))
VOICE TWO:
After the fighting ended, Harriet Tubman returned to Auburn, New
York. She married a man named Nelson Davis. This could have been the
beginning of a few quiet years of family life for her. But she kept
working. She traveled and gave speeches to raise money for better
education for black children. She also worked for women's rights and
housing. And she sought help for old men and women who had been
slaves. Harriet Tubman died in Nineteen-Thirteen. She was about
ninety-three years old. By that time, she was recognized as an
American hero. The United States government gave a funeral with
military honors for the woman known as Moses. (THEME)
VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Jeri Watson. I'm Shirley Griffith.
VOICE TWO:
I'm Ray Freeman. Listen again next week at this time for another
PEOPLE IN AMERICA program on the Voice of America.